SE Asia and China Cruise—Day 15, Busan

March 28, 2012—Busan

I woke up and left the cabin before my parents were up—seems my body clock has definitely reset and I’m back to my old habits of waking up well before 6:00am no matter what time I go to sleep.  While having my morning cappuccino in the Lobby Bar, I tried to connect to the internet with no luck, so I headed back to the cabin to see if my parents were up.

We had docked in Busan, Korea by 7:00.  We were berthed once again in the container dock and to get to town required a 20-30 minute shuttle ride.  We were scheduled to leave by 2:00pm with an all-aboard time of 1:30pm, so this was a short port call.  The last shuttle back to the ship was leaving town at 12:30.  My parents decided to go ahead and ride the shuttle into town and then ride it right back again just to see Korea from the bus.  I decided to just stay on board.  I did get off the ship and took a couple of pictures from the dock. 

I also saw Paolo and talked to him for a few minutes.  Otherwise, I just spent some time reading and relaxing, and talking to some folks who also elected to stay on board.

My parents were back by around 11:00 or so, and we had lunch on the Lido Deck in Horizon Court. 

As the ship prepared to leave, my Dad and I stood on the Promenade Deck, then went to the cabin and watched the sailaway show being performed on the dock from our balcony.  The Busan Tourism Agency put on a show of traditional Korean dances and music on the dock as a farewell to the Diamond.  Unlike the one in Nagasaki, there weren’t any of the citizens from town, and the passengers were not all standing on their balconies or against the railings like they were for the Nagasaki show.  They missed out since it was a good show and very nice to watch. 

Unfortunately, some of the passengers stood around the dock watching the show instead of getting on board by the all-aboard time, and I watched as the ship’s security people had to go and tell them to get aboard.  The last woman was making a purchase from the souvenir vendor on the dock, and I could see the security guy indicating over and over that she needed to get on board and finally she completed her purchase and the gangway was pulled up immediately upon her boarding the ship.  Why in the world some people think the ship should adjust its schedule for them, I’ll never understand. 

The show ended with the entertainers holding up letters which spelled out “See you again” and the ship sounded its horn and pulled away from the dock.  We were headed out to sea once again after leaving our last port of call.

Tonight was the last formal night and after getting ready, we headed down to the Pacific Moon Dining Room.  David and Jerry welcomed us back and Jerry said it was good to see us after two days of not coming there.  My mother and I had the asparagus appetizer and my dad had a salad, then we all had the lobster tail and grilled shrimp for the main course.  I decided not to have dessert, but my dad told Jerry that I would have the strawberry sundae and he ordered the banana ice cream—he actually planned to eat both, but didn’t want to order two desserts!

After dinner, I attended the Captain’s Farewell Cocktail Party in the atrium.  I actually sat in the Lobby Bar, so while I couldn’t actually watch the farewell speeches, I could hear them.  I met a couple that was sitting next to me that had been recognized at the Captain’s Welcome Reception earlier in the cruise as the most travelled couple.  Karen and Jim had been on over 50 Princess cruises!  The captain then came over and talked with them, and then looked at me, said my name, and commented that it was “A pleasure to see you again.”  (I would assume that he recognized me from the Ultimate Ship’s Tour.)  We chatted for a few minutes, then he left.  Karen and Jim and I talked for a while comparing cruises.  Although they had been on over 50 Princess cruises, they urged me to try P&O Cruise Line which they say they like better than Princess—not sure how many cruises they’ve done all together, but it must really be a lot!!

Ended up the evening in the lounge as usual, and finally went back to the cabin by a little before 11:00—since we would be turning the clock back an hour, it was really just after 10:00pm when I fell asleep, so a fairly early night.